Caliban’s first speech emphasizes the conflict that arises from his lack of gratitude towards his master. Ariel is portrayed as a submissive servant, while Caliban is characterized as rebellious and spiteful. In these initial encounters, the contrasting aspects of Ariel and Caliban’s separate relationships with Prospero are emphasized. Whereas Ariel greets Prospero with an affirmation of his greatness, Caliban greets him with a curse: “As wicked dew as e’er my mother brushedWith raven’s feather from unwholesome fen Drop on you both! A south-west blow on ye And blister you all o’er! -(I,, 321-24) Caliban’s apparent hatred for Prospero is evident in much of his speech, which consists predominantly of curses similar to this one. “-(I,, 189-93) Ariel’s self-effacing willingness to serve Prospero contrasts strongly with Caliban’s attitude of sardonic rebelliousness exhibited in the same scene. To thy strong bidding task Ariel and all his quality.
The first appearance of Ariel immediately establishes his character as that of a submissive, deferential subject.His language is that of a slave who binds himself to his master without question: “All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! I come To answer thy best pleasure be’t to fly, To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride On the curled clouds. The contrasting nature of these interactions occurring dramatically portrays the contrast between the attitudes Throughout the work, interactions between Ariel and Prospero come directly before or directly after interactions between Caliban and Prospero. Both Ariel and Caliban are individuals undoubtedly oppressed by Prospero, yet each develops a different relationship to their master based on their natural character as well as their prior circumstances.The scenes of The Tempest are structured so as to emphasize the differing characterizations of Ariel and Caliban in their relationship to Prospero. Ariel and Caliban can both be viewed as the “colonized subjects” of Prospero, and the differing attitudes of these subjects towards their master is indicative of the differing ways in which human nature responds to modern civilization. Lying at the root of Shakespeare’s response toMontaigne is a differing conception of human nature and the extent to which modern civilization suppresses it. By analyzing the characterization of these two characters in relation to Prospero, one comes closer to determining how The Tempest as a work of art responds to and challenges Montaigne’s essay. Both Caliban and Ariel are natives of the island, and hence can be thought of in terms of Montaigne’s cannibals. This ambiguity stems from the juxtaposition of the brutish and pathetic character of Caliban with the sprightly and sympathetic character of Ariel. This seems to imply that Shakespeare’s portrayal of Caliban is a direct attack against the form of wistful idealizing of Nature that Montaigne is so fond of.Yet the complexity of The Tempest lies in its essential ambiguity. Whereas Montaigne’s cannibals are praised as “wild fruits,” produced by nature in her ordinary way and without any artificiality, Shakespeare’s cannibal appears to be as pathetic, crass, and vulgar as any individual can possibly be portrayed. In “On Cannibals” and in The Tempest, both Montaigne and Shakespeare explore the relationship between human nature and modern civilization.Montaigne’s idealization of the cannibals contrasts sharply with Shakespeare’s unsympathetic portrayal of the brutish Caliban, whose name thinly veils the influence of Montaigne’s essay. ” The characterization of Ariel and Caliban in The Tempest is significant in relation to Montaigne’s essay, which was one of Shakespeare’s main inspirations for the work. He boldly asserts that in the character of these people, all of “the true, most useful, and natural virtues and properties are alive and vigorous. Montaigne goes so far as to claim to have found in these cannibals the “golden age,” spoken of so often by philosophers and poets as merely an unattainable dream. He perceives these “cannibals,” as he calls them, to be men who live in the way Nature intends them to live, unadorned and unfettered by modern civilization. It is not surprising, then, that he presents a highly idealized characterization of the natives of the New World.
Shakespeare’s Natives: Ariel and Caliban in The Tempest By Michael O’Toole In his essay “On Cannibals,” Montaigne continually asserts that what is natural is synonymous with what is good, and that Nature herself ought to be the light by which human action is guided.
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